PEABODY, GEORGE ( 1795-1869 ) . An Ameri can merchant and philanthropist, born February 15, 1795, in a parish of Danvers, Mass. (now known as Peabody). Dependent upon himself for support, he went at the age of sixteen or seventeen to Georgetown, D. C., where, in 1813, be became associated with Elisha Riggs, a wholesale dry goods merchant in Georgetown. Twice during the War of 1S12 he was a volun teer in the defense of his country. The firm removed to Baltimore in 1815, and afterwards established branches in New York and Phila delphia. In 1829 Peabody became the head of the firm and continued to reside in Baltimore during the next few years. In 1S35, as one of three commissioners of the State of Maryland, he negotiated in London a loan of $8,000,000 and declined to receive the large commission to which he was entitled. Later (retaining a branch in Baltimore) he founded the house of George Peabody and Company in London, and there he remained until his death. During his long absence from the United States be main tained the liveliest interest in his native land. This was shown by a liberal gift to promote the American exhibit in the World's Fair of 1851; by a contribution for the second Kane expedition to the Arctic seas; and by a series of banquets on Independence Day, which were attended not only by his countrymen, but by Englishmen of official rank and of other distinctions. During the latter years of his life his gifts increased in amount and were devoted to a great variety of purposes. To his native place he gave about $200,000 to found the Peabody Institute and Library, and to North Danvers $50,000 for a like institution. To the publication funds of the Massachusetts Historical Society and the Maryland historical Society he contributed $20, 000 each, and to the Peabody Academy of Sciences in Salem. Mass., $140,000. To Har vard and to Yale he gave $150.000 each, for the establishment in Cambridge of a museum of arehmology, and in New Haven of a museum of natural history. Phillips Academy at Andover, and Kenyon College. in Ohio, received $25.000 each. During the Civil War he gave $10,000 to the United States Sanitary Commission. Three
other gifts transcended those which we have already named. As a token of affection to the city of Baltimore, where lie laid the foundation of his fortune, he gave more than a million and a quarter of dollars to found the Peabody Insti tute, which comprises a library, an art gallery, a conservatory of music, and arrangements for the delivery of public lectures and for the be stowal of prizes in the public schools. To the city of London he gave two and a half mil lions of dollars for the construction of lodging houses—a fund which has since increased enor mously. To a separate board, known as the Trustees of the Peabody Educational Fund. he gave more than $3.000.000 to promote education in the Southern States. This is perhaps the most influential of all his gifts. Such munifi cence, then without parallel, brought him grati tude and honor from England and the United States. The Queen offered to make him a baro net, or to give him the Grand Cross of the Bath; but he declined both honors, and expressed a preference for a letter from the Queen, which he presently received and placed in the Institute at Danvers. Congress caused a gold medal to he struck in acknowledgment of his gifts for edu cation, which had aggregated about $7,000,000. Oxford made him a D.C.L. in 1867.
George Peabody was never married. His death occurred in London, November 4, 1S69. His body was brought to the United States by H.M.S. Monarch. convoyed by a French and an American vessel, and received by an American squadron. Many eulogies were delivered, of which the most important are those of Robert C. Winthrop (Boston, 1870), S. T. WaThs (Bal timore, 1870). Edward Everett (Orations, vol. iii., Boston, 1869), and IL W. Foote (Boston, 1869). A biography has also been published by Phoebe A. Hanaford (Boston, 1870), and a Brief Sketch by J. L. M. Curry (Cambridge, 189S). A bronze statue of Peabody, by William W. Story, stands near the Royal Exchange in London and a replica of it in front of the Peabody Institute in Baltimore.